ARRIVAL in ISRAEL

November 30, 2012

                After a fairly easy flight I arrived in Israel a little after noon on Friday.  The plane was a little more than half full and I was on the end of a 4 seat middle row with two seats between me and a young man who was a basketball player.  He had played at temple University and was on his way to Israel for the first time to play for Maccabi Ashdod.  I gave him a couple of pointers since he had never been to Israel before.

          I took a sherut (a shared mini van taxi) to Jerusalem.  There were a couple of people from France and England as well as a woman who was Christian but  found great spiritual comfort in Israel and even studied Judaism with various people over the years including Chabad.  

          I checked in at the Inbal Hotel and met up with my small group for a short orientation in order to hear the outline of the itinerary and meet each other.  Three of the participants have Rochester connections.  Rabbi Dena Shaffer who grew up at TBK, Rabbi Jonathan Stein, who besides being the present president of the CCAR is also Rachel Rosner’s father and me.

Our tour educator is Uri Feinberg, who not only lives in Modi’in but is also married to a friend of ours, Meryl Feinberg, who knew our entire family at Eisner camp. (She says hello to all of you).   We were welcomed at congregation Yozma in Modi’in by Rabbi Kineret Shiryon, who has visited us in Rochester a few years ago.  The past president of Yozma, Yuval Newman, who is Ron Newman’s cousin, also spoke to the group before services.  He told how his family was affected during the recent bombings with a few rockets having been shot into his town.  Modi’in itself was not a recipient but my cousin Nathan told me that you could see the Iron Dome defensive anti-missiles from his balcony.  The reality now is after the latest events and the war with Hezbollah a few years ago there isn’t any place in Israel that is now totally secure from missiles.  That is the simple reality they all know.  And yet life goes on.  I was told that a family in Rishon Letziyon s well as in Modi’in for the first time are telling their children what  to do when they hear the alert, whether at home, in school or even on a bus.

Services were lovely at Yozma and Rabbi Shiryon spoke about the brotherly relationship between Israel and Diaspora Jewry.  She triggered her remarks with the verse in the Torah portion when Jacob and Esau reunite with a hug and a kiss.  Before the service she took the Torah scrolls out of a safe under the ark.  

While the rest of the group had Shabbat dinner at the Feinberg’s I went to my Aunt’s for a wonderful meal.  To my surprise, my brother Rob drove up from his kibbutz to join us.  I wasn’t expecting to see him since he only returned from his visit to our parents this past Monday.

That’s all for now as I need some Shabbat rest.  Shabbat Shalom